Leonard Helperman
'Leonard Amadeus Helperman'http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0049497/ is Spot's owner and best friend and one of the two protagonists of the series, Teacher's Pet. He is not very popular at school because his mother is the teacher, and is often ridiculed and taunted for embarassment. He knows of Spot’s charade and, while wishes he would remain his dog at home, he allows him to continue his alias as his school friend. Biography Leonard is Spot's insecure master and best friend and a ten year old fourth grade genius. His mother is the teacher and, as a result, many of the other kids view him as a geek, verbally bully him, and often leave him out when it comes to school or parties. He has a huge crush on Leslie Dunkling, the most popular girl in school. Except for Scott and Leslie, he does not have any strong friendships amongst others at school. He is very loyal to his pets, obeys his mother, and will do anything for Leslie no matter how difficult it may be. Leonard is also a mama's boy as evidenced by the babying his mother does to him and he sometimes calls his mother "mommy". He is very loyal to Spot and, both as a dog and in his school alias as Scott, is his best friend. At some point when he was a younger boy (5 years old to be exact), he and his mother got Spot when he was a newborn puppy during Christmas time. Even with Leonard being known as Scott/Spot's best friend, the latter quickly becoming popular amongst the other kids, Leonard's social inclusion with the others has only increased by a certain degree. Personality Leonard is known to be very insecure of himself because his mother is the teacher, resulting in him being unpopular and mocked. Leonard is generally kind, moralistic, and caring but is also be negative most of the time because of Spot's amazing plans often getting him in trouble. He is also known to be the scapegoat of the series as he gets blamed for Spot/Scott's wrong-doings, though Spot/Scott always manages to save him from the consequences by the end of the episode. Leonard gets irritable when called "Tubby" as he is sensitive about his weight (although a few times, people have made jokes about his high body fat). Even with Spot becoming popular with their classmates and being known as his best friend, Leonard is always gets punished or teased when he gets involved in Spot's "amazing plans", though he always manages to get out of trouble before the episode ends. He gets really annoyed by Spot/Scott's actions, despite being best friends, but they always reconcile in the end when they get mad at each other. Episode Appearance Leonard is a pudgy ten-year-old juvenile with extremely pale/white skin and orange hair. His outfit is a navy blue sweater with a red stripe in the middle, yellow slacks, and blue dress shoes. Show Leonard wants to be a normal kid and is ashamed that his mother is the teacher. At school, he meets Scott Leadready II and becomes jealous of him. He finds out that Scott is really his dog and reluctantly agrees to let Scott stay and the two become school friends. He has the biggest crush on the girl next-door, Leslie (even though she likes Spot/Scott better). For some reason, Leonard does not have a father. In one episode, it's revealed he had 2 other dogs before he had Spot. Movie Leonard follows his mother to the awards ceremony in Florida leaving his pets at home. Later, Spot follows Leonard to Florida to meet Dr. Ivan Krank. When they get there, Spot is not transformed into a child, but instead a man (which is Spot's age in dog years). After escaping from a cage, they earn $500 and spend it on cool stuff. When they meet Mary back at the RV park, she starts to fall for Scott which makes Leonard furious because he does not want Spot to be his stepfather and now he wants Spot to get out of his life and they both say they never want to see each other again. Leonard even said "So I think you should leave me and my mom forever"! Leonard even says that he wishes Spot was not his dog and Spot says he wishes Leonard was never his master. The next day, Leonard meets his other pets when they arrive and decides to turn into a dog to be with Spot. But, when he gets there, he realizes he has been tricked and he is going to be used as bait to lure Spot and then Krank will have the man and the dog and they will be two media freaks for the price of one. At the lab, Spot saves Leonard and the machine blows up and turns Spot into a pile of dust. Angry and crying, Leonard kicks the machine and it zaps Spot again, turning him back into a dog. At the end, he gives Spot back his collar making him his dog again. Relationships with Other Characters Spot Helperman/Scott Leadready II Spot is Leonard's best friend, pet dog, and his rival. In the first episode, Leonard did not want to go to school because everyone hates him and just spend time with his dog and his other pets. Leonard is very loyal to his dog even if it means dressing up as his mother, taping the whole air show, taking the blame for his actions, and giving Spot up for Spot to have his dream. While Leonard and Scott are still best friends at school and are loyal to each other, they can occasionally get very competitive with each other when there is a test, a game, or an audition that one or both of them want to succeed at. But, whether it is helping Leonard impress Leslie or helping Scott deal with one of his burdens they always stick by each other and help them when they need each other the most. Usually, Spot/Scott has plans to help Leonard with his social image and confidence that usually get Leonard himself punished, sent to detention, blamed, or scorned by the other kids, but he always manages to get out of this trouble before the episode ends. In the movie, their friendship is put to the test when Spot/Scott is turned into a man and he decides to marry his mother and be his stepfather. Leonard loses his temper and they say they want each other to get out of their lives. While Spot is trying to return to Leonard, Leonard decides to go turn into a dog to be with Spot again. At the end, when Spot is changed back to normal, they make up and become friends again. Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly Leonard loves his cat and bird just as much as he loves his dog. He always turns to them for help when he needs them the most. He does not appreciate it when they are in danger such as, Tallulah trying to hurt them and eat Pretty Boy or when Jolly is in a stone funk. In the movie, when Leonard missed having Spot and was holding a grudge at him, Jolly and Pretty Boy arrived on the scene and Leonard was like "oh it's you". Pretty Boy was mad about this and they decided to leave but Leonard quickly apologized and was glad that they were in Florida and he never needed anyone more. Leonard has a great friendship with his 3 pets. Leslie Dunkling Leslie is the love of Leonard's life. They have known each other since Leonard was 1 year old and they became playmates and they quickly became best friends. When 4th grade came, she decided to not hang out with him as much because he is a boy and she is a girl, but they remained good friends. When 4th grade came, Leonard realized his feelings for her and she gained her pre-teen beauty and he fell in love with her. Leonard tries to talk to Leslie but he can hardly talk to her and she likes Spot/Scott and Younghee more than him. Sometimes, Leslie will often seek comfort from Leonard when she is hurt or trying to open up to him. Leslie does have feelings for Leonard and once said she thinks he is cute and funny. The most notable episodes where Leslie's true love for Leonard are proved in are "Inspector Leadready II", "What's Sweat Gotta Do With It?", and "All About Eavesdropping". Mary Helperman Leonard is a mama's boy. He is ashamed about his mother being his teacher because she tends to humiliate him and sometimes enjoys it. But, he always obeys her because of his kind, friendly, moralistic nature. He sometimes even calls his mother "mommy". In fact, he sees some advantages of his mother being the teacher at times. Outside the Show/Movie Spot/Scott and Leonard have appeared in numerous of Gary Baseman's events and appearances and museums. They have appeared in many of Baseman's paintings and they have been featured as walk around characters at many of Gary Baseman's events, appearances, guest speeches, and more along with Baseman's other characters. Trivia *Leonard has a singing talent. *Leonard and Spot are the only characters to be in every episode. *The name Helperman is Jewish, so it can be assumed that Leonard is Jewish. However, this has not been confirmed. He is most likely Jewish on his disappeared father's side. But in the show, he celebrates Christmas instead of Hanukkah. However, some Jews celebrate both holidays so he might celebrate Hanukkah. *Spot/Scott is not a human and not a kid (Spot is 35 in dog years) and Leslie does not hang out with Leonard as much anymore, so therefore, Leonard has no friends. *He is the second character to be voiced by Shaun Fleming. The first being the Max Goof from Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. *Leonard is chubby but in some shots, he is skinny. *Leonard shares the many traits, role, and qualities of Charlie Brown of the Peanuts franchise. They both are geniuses, they both have dogs, they are hated and mistreated, they always get bullied, and they have very few friends. *Leonard is also similar to Tintin of The Adventures of Tintin. They both have the same hair color, they have the same hairstyle, they have the same head shape, they both wear dark navy blue sweaters, they both have dogs, and they are both geniuses. *Even though Leonard is the main character of the show, he is listed second on the character biographies on the show's website and at the end credits. Gallery References Category:Teacher's Pet characters Category:Disney characters Category:Males Category:Characters Category:Lovers Category:TV Animation characters Category:Pre-teens Category:Heroes Category:American characters Category:Singers Category:Singing characters Category:Students